Abu Jundal, 11 others were convicted in 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case by the MCOCA court
LeT operative and 26/11 key plotter Abu Jundal, and six others were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Besides Jundal, six other convicts--Mohammed Aamir Sheikh, Billal Ahmed, Sayed Akif, Afroz Khan, Mohammed Aslam Kashmiri and Faizal Ataur Rehman (who is on death row in the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings case)-- were handed out life by designated Judge Shrikant Anekar.
Prounoucing the sentence, the court said that all the seven convicts will serve imprisonment till their (natural) life.
Also, two other convicts--Mohammed Mujaffar Tanvir and Dr Mohammed Sharif-- were handed out 14 years of imprisonment while three others--Mushtaq Ahmed, Javed Ahmed and Afzal Khan were awarded eight years imprisonment.
The court while sentencing all the 12 convicted, observed that it has taken into consideration the gravity of offence, lack of remorse (of the accused) and potential effect on common man in the case.
Special MCOCA Judge Shrikant Anekar delivered the sentence after the accused were convicted following a ten-year-long wait.
The court accepted prosecution's case that the aim of the convicted accused was to create terror in the minds of people and to eliminate public leaders like then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Hindu leader Pravin Togadia.
On May 8, 2006, a Maharashtra ATS team chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on Chandwad-Manmad highway near Aurangabad and arrested three terror suspects and seized 30kg of RDX, 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 3,200 bullets.
The Indica, allegedly driven by Jundal, managed to give police the slip. Jundal, who hails from Beed district of Maharashtra, drove to Malegaon and a few days later he escaped to Bangladesh from where he fled to Pakistan, according to the state police.
He was deported to India from Saudi Arabia in 2012.
Charges against Jundal
120 (B) IPC: Hatching conspiracy
121 r/w 120IPC: Waging war against country in conspiracy
122 IPC: Collecting arms with intension of waging war against nation
302 IPC: Murder
307 IPC: Attempt to murder
333 IPC: Voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty
342 IPC: Wrongful confinement
343 IPC: Wrongful confinement for more than three days
364 IPC: Abduction
419 IPC: Cheating by personation for committing forgery
471: Using forged document as a genuine one
436 IPC: Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house
109 IPC: Punishment for abetment of crime.
(With PTI inputs)
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